December 18, 2000 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The December 4 issue of Christianity Today contains an article titled ãReclaiming Santa.ä It is about Ed Butchart who since 1987 has taken on the persona of Santa Claus as a year-round job. Butchart intermingles Santa with Jesus Christ. Consider the following quotes: ãChildren live mostly in a fantasy world, and you can appeal to them more with fantasy than with reality. Santa Claus is a good place for them to learn about the unconditional love they will eventually understand comes from Christ. · that night, when God gave us Jesus, all the love in the world came together in an explosion of power. Itâs the most powerful night in the world. The power that explodes is Godâs love. Thatâs when wonderful things happen. Reindeer can fly and Santa can go down chimneys. · By being somebodyâs Santa Claus, youâre emulating Christä (Butchart, Christianity Today, Dec. 2, 2000, p. 46).

This is very sad, but we know that multitudes of other professing Christians also play the Santa Claus game at Christmas. Santa Claus is a myth, a lie. No good can come from indulging in a lie. A child who is taught that both Santa and Christ are real is in danger of rejecting both when he learns that at least one is a fairy tale. Furthermore, Santa Claus is a blasphemous false christ. He claims to know what all children are doing, whether good or bad. He claims to be everywhere in the world on the same night. He claims to love all children. This false Santa Claus is preferred by many because he is a jolly god who does not punish sin.

ãBeware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christä (Colossians 2:8).

ãLittle children, keep yourselves from idolsä (1 John 5:21).

ãI am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven imagesä (Isaiah 42:8).